Yaoundé—The local subsidiary of South
Africa mobile telecom firm, MTN will resume sponsorship of the Cameroon soccer
league one and two championships five years after it backed out allegedly due
to poor relations with the country’s football authorities.
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| Cameroon Elite two club, Bang Bullet FC of Nkambe |
The
MTN Cameroon CEO told the press that she discussed the modalities of the
sponsorship with the chief scribe of the Cameroon state house as the mobile
telecommunications network firm is about to sign a contract with the
Professional Football League of Cameroon (LFPC) to sponsor local soccer for the
next three years.
“We
will be sponsoring the premier leagues one and two. We are hoping that it is
going to go beyond just three years. As Africans we all share the passion of
football,” Philisiwe Sibiya said.
The
firm sponsored Cameroon’s premier league from 2002 but backed out a decade
later and since then, the national divisions one and two championships have
been limping due to lack of sponsorship.
The
launching of the 2016/2017 football season in the country for instance
witnessed repeated postponements largely due to a chronic logistics and financial
deficiency.
The
telecom firm had been investing in soccer in the country financially and
infrastructural wise. It had helped in promoting sports in Cameroon, especially
football through a total financial disbursement of FCFA 7 billion for the
organization of the league one and two championships from 2002-2012; about FCFA
700 million annually.
MTN
also rehabilitated two major stadia in the country’s Mbouda and Guider stadia
in the West and North regions respectively.
Though
the telecom giant’s new sponsorship is yet to be signed, soccer promoters in
the five times African football champions see the resumption of sponsorship by
the telecom firm a sigh of relief.
Kengong
Johnson Bang, president of Bang Bullet FC, a local league two side in the
country said he was happy with the announcement.
By
Ndi Eugene Ndi
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